


Aftershock

by Wendigo_E17



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Character swap, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22600225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wendigo_E17/pseuds/Wendigo_E17
Summary: Character Swap with jsmulligan. Weeks following the Red War, Claney Beamard and close friend Celeste Etain scout through the ruins of Old Europe. Coming into contact with a Fallen crew, the two Guardians discover something that may plunge the City back into chaos.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Aftershock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jsmulligan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jsmulligan/gifts).



“There - beyond the bend, do you see it?”

Claney shifted the pulse rifle in his heavy hands, securing the weapon in a tighter grip, keeping his faceplace pressed against the scope mounted on the rifle. He waited a few seconds for confirmation, before turning his head toward the marksman on his left.

“Your ears on?” He asked.

“Sorry, haven’t run functionality tests on those for a while.” She responded, her faceplate barely visible behind her cloak and the longsight she was staring through. Claney knew plenty the trouble that one had to go through to be a marksman: calculating the trajectory, taking note of the wind currents and so on. He didn’t consider himself a marksman, though few Guardians truly could call themselves talented at longrifles.

He was just lucky to have one by his side.

“Haha.” Claney grunted, “There’s our objective. Looks like it’s covered in Fallen - the captain’s up to something.”

“Probably picking what’s left.” Celeste responded, “I’m seeing five heads, can’t be any bigger than a crew.”

“I’d agree,” Claney responded, adjusting his weight to distribute more comfortably on the rocky knoll, “but from what I understand, this place isn’t all that important.”

“A camp?”

“Maybe.”

“That’s the most confident answer I’ve heard all day,” Celeste laughed, “we engaging’, old man?”

Claney surveyed the area a bit more, trying to get an understanding of the ruins that stood before them. It looked as if the area had been shelled to bits, fragments of destroyed bricks and concrete littering the scene like leaves during autumn, leaving exposed metal-works that had rusted through centuries of abuse. Among the ruins he couldn’t make out a single piece of Fallen equipment, meaning either they had just arrived or they were indeed a scouting party.

But Fallen scouts always had one -- there it was. A shimmering figure stuck on one of the still intact walls like a spider. Claney lightly bumped Celeste’s shoulder with his gauntleted fist, “Look at two-seven-nine, looks like a cloaker.”

A moment of silence before Celeste muttered a confirmation, “I see him. I’ll add another three stealths, coming out to a total of seven spiders. We want to engage from a distance?”

“We could,” Claney mused, “but that’s what I’m worried about. We hit them from here they’ll scatter, possibly run with what they were after.”

“We sure they’re looking for something?”

“We can’t be sure, but if we are then we can’t just let them get away with it.”

“Erring on the side of caution for once?” Celeste scoffed, “So what’s the game plan?”

Claney sat for a while, watching the captain gesture towards something immediately outside of their view as a few Dregs scuttled past him. Turning his head slightly he could still make out the stealth vandal. The Titan slowly pieced together a ‘game plan,’ knowing that they would need to be right on top of the group as soon as the first shot was fired. But they had an advantage where they were at, and it didn’t make sense to surrender that.

He drew in a deep breath, “Alright. I’m going to hit them from the side, I need you to take out those vandals if you can see them. Once I’m in, I’ll hit the captain. Assuming things don’t go sideways--”

“Sideways?” Celeste asked, surprised, “It’s just a crew!”

“I’m ‘erring on the side of caution for once.” Claney smiled, “Head up as soon as you get those vandals out of play. We’ll meet together and take this place, might uncover something useful. Clear?”

“Roger roger,” Celeste rolled her eyes, “I’ll keep in touch. I won’t see much what’s going on in there, so best not to trip on anything.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Claney responded, lifting himself up from the rocky ground. He scanned the surrendering area, the brook that divided the area of engagement and the knoll, the green landscape of sparse distributions of grass and littered pine needles. The Titan set in a brisk walk through the only concealment he had to his advantage, weaving between taller stones and the alpine trees.

Celeste wasn’t joking when she reminded him not to trip over anything, leaping over the fallen branches and twigs that if stepped on would’ve revealed his location. The Titan had to admit it wasn’t the easiest thing to do when clad in heavy plasteel armour, especially so without the Light. Claney’s mind turned to those dark few weeks, remembering the tragedy that struck their home, their security… no, not now. And hopefully never again. After about two minutes of movement, Claney slid to a halt and kneeled in the somewhat dense forestry before he lifted his pulse rifle to the firing position once again. Tapping his faceplate against the scope, the Titan scanned the new angle he had on the scene, praying that the Fallen hadn’t noticed him.

“Elgan?” Claney whispered, hearing his silver-shelled companion materialise over his shoulder, “Can you open a transmat link with Celeste?”

“Comms are open.” The Ghost replied.

“Tag the tangos I’m looking at,” Claney responded, “Celeste’ll want to know where they’re at if she can’t see them. You picking up any static?”

“Done. And if by static, you mean the stealth nets, I’m not seeing any additional sources. Just that one.”

“Got it,” Claney tapped the side of his helmet to open the comm channel with Celeste, “you heard that, kiddo?”

_ “Heard every single word.” _ Celeste sighed,  _ “You’re telling me that you’re in position?” _

“Waiting on your shot.”

Two seconds passed. Then the air was pierced with a fury that Claney was too familiar with, Celeste’s rifle spitting a cracking howl that knocked the head off the stealth vandal whose spirit ‘screamed’ in horror before its limp body followed the spiralling fall down where its wire rifle already fell. Dregs chittered in shock, and the captain roared in a defining hatred before its Eliksni-tongued speech barked commands to desperate troops. 

Claney immediately took off, keeping his rifle steady as he charged into the place, taking aim at one of the dregs that pointed at their rapidly approaching foe before the Titan squeezed the trigger and sent a barrage of rounds that tore through the dreg’s chest like paper. All the Fallen turned on him, aiming with their shrapnel launcher or series of shock pistols before they returned a volley of fire. But like a Cabal missile, Claney pressed forward and ignored the rounds that pinged off his armour harmlessly. Swinging his pulse rifle back onto the magnetic locks on his armour and pulling his shotgun forward, the Titan immediately took aim and blasted the courageous dreg that challenged him as it was flung back several metres away. Slamming his gauntleted fist into the second, which crumpled like cardboard, the Titan looked up at the captain that he knew was hissing insults.

Pumping the action of his shotgun, Claney swung his weapon back to the firing position as he sent of a spread of pellets that rolled around the captain’s arc shielding. The captain retaliated with firing its shrapnel launcher, which hit the Titan like a lead pipe even through his armour - it hurt, but he was still standing. Claney bound forward, directly confronting the spider that stood just a head taller than him before he jabbed his shotgun into the Fallen’s chest. Generally that should have been the end of it, but this captain was evidently a skilled combatant as it easily used its lower arms to twist the barrel of the shotgun out of its killing position and slammed Claney over the head with its own weapon.

The Titan didn’t stumble, nothing moved a Titan. Clenching his free fist with void light, Claney retaliated with a punch that shattered the captain’s barrier like delicate glass. The captain growled but wasn’t hurt, trying once more to hit Claney over the head with its weapon, as its bottom two arms wrestled the shotgun out of the Titan’s steel grasp. Claney bit his tongue, suppressing his frustration before his shoulder exploded with a burning and tearing agony. The Titan turned his head to the side, seeing the protruding metal daggers that spit with flames and indescribable heat that tore through his exposed and not armoured shoulder.

Dropping to the floor, Claney felt his shotgun slam into his helmet as he skidded across the rubble-covered concrete for a few metres. Spinning himself onto his back, the Titan looked up at the captain who laughed with devilish pleasure, before it aimed Claney’s shotgun at him to make the final and killing blow. Claney closed his eyes and clenched his jaw waiting for that moment before a second air-piercing round followed the explosive strike that hit something.

And that something wasn’t him.

Claney opened his eyes just to see the captain now brandishing hole it its chest that made the Titan’s stomach squeeze, the vermillion coloured blood and white ether flowing from it like a bubbling spring. Claney sat there for a moment, before pushing himself to his feet as he found his left had secure around one of the still hot pieces of shrapnel before he tore it out with some effort. Elgan materialised immediately, administering a wave of light that slowly mended the wounds of the Titan as relief washed over him.

“Thanks.” Claney responded, as he stumbled over to the dead captain to collect his blood covered shotgun.

“You’re welcome.” Celeste responded, the Huntress squatting in the corner with her rifle now lowered.

“I think I was talking to the Ghost,” the Titan smiled beneath his visor, “but you too.”

“I’ll have to give it to you, old man, at least you didn’t trip. But you need to work on your close-quarters-combat.”

Claney stepped closer to the dead captain, using his boot to turn over the Fallen as a strange piece of equipment fell out from one of its bandoliers. The Titan stopped for a second, processing Celeste’s response and what he just saw: “This isn’t a typical captain, this is something else.”

“That’s your excuse?”

Claney shook his head before kneeling beside the dead captain, using his free hand to pick the device off the ground before standing back up. Elgan stared at it with his eye, blinking a few times before scanning it. The Ghost hovered still, before he turned to look at the two Guardians: “It’s heavily encrypted, more so than standard Fallen communication modules… but that’s the thing, it isn’t Fallen. It’s following a different encryption pattern.”

“A  _ different  _ encryption pattern?” Celeste asked to clarify.

“Yes.” Elgan replied quickly, “Not much I’m going to be able to do here, but if we’re able to find complementary units or a receiver itself, I might be able to crack the encryption and figure out what they were doing.”

“That’d take hunting a few more captains with this device,” Claney hummed, “or finding where they’re stationing.”

“Either option will take days,” Celeste added, “weeks even. But...”

Claney waited for a few seconds: “But…?”

“But we’re still missing a few stealth vandals, they don’t deploy them all on their own.” Celeste answered, “That means that they’re somewhere close. And since we are standing on top of a structure that they were scurrying to claim--”

“Then they’re still here. Hiding or searching.” Elgan concluded.

Claney drew in a deep and contemplative breath, looking at Celeste before he turned back to his Ghost. If all of this was true, then this would be something that would require a more complete Fireteam. And that meant including someone that the Huntress wasn’t all too fond of. It was the best choice they had, and not knowing what the consequences were was something that demanded that action be taken.

“Elgan,” Claney raised attention, “I need you to send a transmission to two targets. First, I need you to send a report to the Vanguard.”

“Done,” Elgan blinked, “and the second?”

“Zillah,” Claney watched as Celeste immediately snapped her head his way, “we’re going to need a full Fireteam.”


End file.
